Mistakes
by wolf-luver00
Summary: Young Love :3


**Mistakes**

Lilac watches her adopted kits, Shine, Ginger, Night, Bird, Flame, Light, Dapple, Hawk, and Blueberry sleep happily. They were all so small, but Shine, Night, and Ginger were the biggest. All the other kits were new, and she loved them all.

Later that day, Shine, Night, and Ginger watch the new kits. They whisper to each other.  
"They're young." Night comments.  
Ginger nods."I can't wait until they're old enough to play!"  
Shine nods. "Yeah! You two are sooo boring."  
"Hey!" Ginger and Night chorus.  
Light mewls and all the other kits begin squeaking. Lilac grabs a mouse off her pile and chews it, then lays it in front of them. They start to eat.  
"Eww!" Ginger says. "I'm glad we're old enough to eat real prey!  
Night nods, "Mom says that as soon as we're adopted we'll become apprentices!"  
Shine sighs, "If we ever get adopted..."

A few weeks later, Shine sits with Night, whispering. Ginger glares at Night, his eyes brimming with hate. 'He's taking her!' He thinks angrily. Ginger trots over to them, smiling, hiding his anger. "Hey, Shine, Night!" He says.  
They glance up at him, and then Night leans to Shine and whispers something. She giggles. Ginger huffs and whirls, then runs off.

Lilac laughs, standing with her kits, trying to get them to eat a mouse."My kits, just try it! It's good!" She coaxed, pushing her last mouse to them.

Hawk pads to it cautiously, and then sniffs it. Leaning down, he takes a bite. He looks up, eyes shining.

"It's good!" He comments, and then continues to eat as Bird, Flame, Light, Dapple, and Blueberry crowd around it to eat. Bird, the smallest out of all the kits, puts her paws over Dapple's ears as she tries to get in to eat.  
"Hey!" Dapple rears Bird off and then giggles. She steps aside to let Bird in. Bird happily munches on it.

Ginger stood in a tree, huffing. He wanted to yowl. Why did Shine like Night? _What's wrong with_ me? He wondered. Looking down, he saw a pool of water. He jumped down into it, wincing as the stones cut into his soft pads. But the water felt good. Looking down, he winced at his reflection. Was he really crying? He looked closer. His ginger pelt was ruffled, and for once he realized how... _normal_ he was. He was nothing like Night. He winced, looking away. The tears fell fresh. He felt as if his heart was ripping. _Ginger, the loner._ Groaning, he hopped out of the water. He was so confused. He had known Shine and Night all his life. When had they grown apart? No, he knew that. "Why?" He yowled.

Lilac looked at Night and Shine, who were sitting in front of her. "Where's Ginger?" She asked.

Shine smiled innocently. "He went… for a walk."

Lilac nodded, "Well, I'm going to teach you how to hunt now. He'll have to learn later.

Night's eyes shone. "Really, mom?"

Lilac laughed, "Yes, we need more food now since I adopted 6 more kits."

Night nodded, and then Lilac crouched down into the hunter's crouch. "Try to imitate me."

Night crouched, placing his paws right. But, his tail was sticking straight up. Shine sucked in her stomach and placed her paws perfectly, tail straight out.

"Lilac nodded, "Good! Night, put your tail straight behind you. Shine, you're putting all your weight on your front paws. Even it out."

The two kits proudly adjusted their stance.

Lilac nodded, "Now, try to shuffle forward. Leap for a leaf. Shine, you first."

Shine padded silently, gazing at the leaf. Her breath was heavy. Suddenly, she sprung and landed on the leaf. The leaf was crushed, and then forgotten as she looked up for praise.

Lilac padded to her, smiling, "Good, just land easier and control your breathing." She turned to Night, "Your turn."

Night crouched, putting his tail right this time. He narrowed his eyes, and then shuffled forward. He leaped, landing on the leaf, then stood and looked at Shine proudly.

"You need to pad more carefully, but other than that you did well." Lilac praised.

Shine licked Night on her ear. "Good job!" She laughed.

Ginger watched from the shadows. He hissed as Shine licked Night and decided that he didn't want to go back. He had watched the lesson; maybe he could hunt for himself. Sniffing the air, he smelled the familiar scent of a mouse. He crouched, the stance feeling natural. Sighing, he let the visions of Night with Shine fade out of his head. He pinpointed the mouse, then leaped, finding the mouse and killing it. It felt good to be normal.

The next morning, Night woke up to see Shine still sleeping. He looked around to see Lilac talking to the newer kits.  
"Mama, where's Ginger?" whined Blueberry. "He promised he'd play with us!"  
As Night smirked, Lilac murmured, "He's out for a walk. A long walk." Then, seeing Night, she turned to him. He noticed how tired she looked.

"Night, wake Shine and go hunting with her. The kits are hungry and I'm tired."  
Night nodded and padded back over to his nest. Shine was in it. He shook his head to wake himself, and then prodded Shine with a paw.  
She looked up sleepily. "Night... What?" She asked.  
Night smiles down at her. "Mom wants us to hunt."  
Shine hops up, suddenly awake. "Our first hunt!" She purrs. After quickly washing each other, they pad out, excitement in their eyes.

Ginger silently pads along the trail of a rabbit. He jumps over a fallen log, wincing at the soreness in his back. After sleeping in a hollow tree, too curled up to even breathe right, to avoid being seen, he was sore everywhere. He didn't want to face Shine, who'd just call him a coward. 'It's a wonder that I was able to sleep,' he thinks.  
Caught up in his thoughts, Ginger comes upon the rabbit, which has paused to nibble on a bit of parsley. Pausing, he crouches and wiggles his haunches, ready to pounce.

Night guides the way, sniffing the air often. "I know there's a rabbit over here." he whispers. The one thing that Lilac didn't teach them was to hone in on scents. He takes one more sniff, and then comes to rabbit, which is pausing to nibble on some kind of strong-smelling leaf. He crouches and waits for it to look away.

Ginger pads forward a bit, the scent of the rabbit mouth-watering. He studies the rabbit, then, satisfied with his positioning, he pounces.

Night glances back at Shine, who is watching him, then pounces.

The rabbit, intent on its snack, drops the chewed leaf and reaches for a new one. It hears a twig snap and pauses, and then sees a wolf leap for it. Then another leaps, who hits the first in mid-air and lands right in front of it. The rabbit immediately bolts.  
Night groans, then jumps up, hissing.  
Ginger struggles up, sore muscles begging him to stay still. He looks up and freezes. Standing in front of him was his adopted brother.

Night snickers. "Where've you run to now?"  
Ginger growls. "Not around you. Miss me any?"  
"No, but Mom's in distress." Shine answered the question for Night.  
Night glances at her, unsure, and then catches on. "She had to send us hunting because she lost sleep over you."  
Ginger draws in a sharp gasp, worrying about his adopted mother. He crouches, but not in the hunting stance. "Tell mom, and I'll kill you." He was hardly aware of the words coming as he let his rage consume him.  
Night laughs, as Shine glances at Night, worried, then trains her eyes on Ginger. The air hung heavily as Night bounces the threat, "Ha! A kit like you? Please."  
Suddenly, Ginger snarls and pounces. Blinded by rage, he rips Night's side with his claws, then twirls around and nips at his heels. Night collapses onto the ground, helpless.  
Shine gasps and runs to stand in-between the fighting wolves. "Stop!" She yowls.  
But, Ginger's rage turns to Shine, the first wolf he had ever truly been able to confide in, who had turned that against him and told Night everything about his old abusive parents. Then, as if she had twisted the knife that she stabbed her with, she had fallen for Night as if Ginger hadn't even existed.  
He looked down, eyes shut. "Why him?" He whispered. Then, he charged. Lashing out, he caught her above the eye. Spasms racked his body, and he locked down again, barely catching the tears.  
"Because he didn't attack me." She whispered, closing one eye to block the blood from her eye. Night had already fled, so she turned and ran after him.  
Ginger was left alone, tears escaping his eyes. 'What have I done?' He thinks.

Night padded back into their adopted mother's den, which was just an old fox-den. He carried a vole, and he had licked the blood off his fur to hide it from his mom. Shine soon followed him, and, being a better hunter, carried a rabbit and a bird. The wound above her eye was discreet, even though Night had licked it until it had stung.  
"Good job!" Lilac congratulated, not yet seeing their wounds. Even Night, who was ignorant, could see the disappointment in Lilac's eyes. Even for beginners like themselves, it was a meager catch. Then, she noticed the wounds her precious pups carried.  
"Shine, your eye!" She turned to Night, noticing the fluffed hair around his scratches. "Night, your side!" Lilac gasped, the shock in her mew was agonizingly strong. "Why didn't you say something?"  
Night and Shining instantly felt guilty.  
"It's not that bad." Shining murmured.  
"Not that bad?" Lilac ranted. "You're bleeding! What happened?"  
"Ginger-" Shining cut Night off.  
"We didn't know what to hunt and what to avoid. We ran into a possum." Shining paused, smiling. "We gave that thing twice the amount of wounds we got!"  
Lilac seemed to relax as she sighed, "Well, let's get you two fixed up." Lilac murmured, and then brightened up, "Oh, and Hawk and Light got adopted!" She glowed.  
Shine smiled as she followed Night and Lilac to get cleaned up.


End file.
